Social Justice Groups Ask HUD To Reject Raleigh Housing Plan

Fair housing activists are asking the US Department of Housing and Urban Planning to reject Raleigh's plan to sell off 175 public housing units.

Credit US Department of Housing and Urban Planning

Several social justice groups are asking the federal government to reject a Raleigh Housing Authority plan that would sell off 175 public housing units.

Housing authority director Steve Beam has said the plan would save the city money, and that the current residents of the units would receive vouchers to subsidize their rent if they moved elsewhere.

But Bill Rowe of the N.C. Justice Center wrote to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and said this plan could result in further segregating Raleigh neighborhoods.

“There are issues that we think are concerning about vouchers, primarily that not all landlords will take them – and that's fine,” Rowe said in an interview. “But that we ought to look at where in our community they are being accepted, because, often times, that will concentrate where those people can go to reside.”

Rowe says the Raleigh City Council should have allowed the public to weigh in on the plan before approving the housing authority application. He says, if HUD rejects the plan, he hopes the public will have the chance to give input on the city’s subsidized housing options.